Analysis of tourist' choice of destination

• Main Authors: Cheng, Tsui Lui, Chew, Linda Wan Peng, Neo, Angela Guat Theng
• Other Authors: Koh Hian Chye
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64364
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The objective of this study seeks to determine and measure the relative importance of attributes tourists look for in leisure travel destination. The attributes are referred to as 'pull' factors. In addition, an attempt is made to understand whether certain sociodemographic variables influence the level of importance an individual place on the pull factors. With results of this study, it is hoped that market segments can be described in terms of pull factors and marketing strategies can be implemented more effectively. Total receipts from international tourism has been found to be a substantial portion of world trade and is growing at an increasing rate. The tourism industry is in fact made up of a collection of businesses all selling travel-related services. In addition, economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts on society is too great to be overlooked. In essence, it can be seen that tourism affects and is affected by not only tourists, service providers of tourism-related industries, but also the residents of a travel destination. Primary data was collected from 393 respondents at the Changi International Airport of Singapore during the months of June to September 1992 using the questionnaire method. The sociodemographic variables of individuals and the level of importance each placed on 36 attributes of travel destinations were captured. The sample composed largely of tourists in Singapore and a small portion of locals with overseas travel experience. The three statistical tests employed were descriptive statistics, factor analysis and analysis of variance. Descriptive statistics was employed to study the distribution of sociodemographic variables of respondents and the level of importance of each pull factor of travel destination. Factor analysis was conducted to group highly correlated attributes together and to uncover underlying construct(s) in the observed data. Anaylsis of variance was employed to study the relationships between sociodemographic variables of respondents and the level of importance each placed on the attributes of leisure travel destination. With the results from the three statistical tests, six most important attributes of travel destination were identified. They are scenery, cultural attraction, food, local attitude towards tourists, accommodation and information availability. The responses to the level of importance of attributes of destination travel identified could be sufficiently captured by eight factors. The factors are facilitator of easy travel, anxiety minimising factor, culture and history, location of destination, interesting happenings, convenient services, physiologically satisfying and opinion-based factor. Results indicated that the level of importance that individuals attached to the various factors differs in accordance to their sociodemographic variables. Marketing implications based on the results are discussed.